Bonjourno!

Two days have passed since we said "Arrivaderci" to Vancouver and "Bonjourno" to Pescara. Tuesday morning at 5:00 we arrived and checked in for our flights at the Portland Airport. (I love flying out of Portland, because its SOOOO easy!) Kaylyn and Alisha (our friend from church who is on this journey with us) and myself (Brady. And yes, it will usually be me that is writing these.) arrived in Washington DC at 3 pm EST. The girls were on a 6pm direct flight to Rome's Fiumucino Airport, and arrived safely in Rome around 8:30 AM local time. Then on to Pescara by bus (about a 3 hour bus ride). I took the scenic route; through Brussels and 8 hours later, landed at FCO as well, taking the same bus route into Pescara. After little or no sleep for nearly 48 hours, the end of my itinerary was a welcome sight! Although it was 10pm local time when I arrived, I was able to see a bit of the city as we drove from the bus station to our new home. The family we are going to be living with are Brazilian, but are making their home here in Italy. It has been fantastic to catch up with them after 5 years. (They were staff for my DTS in Kona in 2005) Arriving at their condo on the hillside in Pescara was a like a breath of fresh air. The Lord's faithfulness in this adventure of ours is ever apparent as we begin to settle in and have our expectations of what life would be like here absolutely blown away! From our un-problematic travel (all luggage arrived unharmed and all flights were on time) to the sense of community we're already feeling here, we see the true fingerprints of our Maker! As I posted on Facebook earlier, "This is Right". We want to thank you all for your prayers. We do really believe that when God's people pray, He moves in huge ways. That being said, we would like to remind you and urge you on to prayer for Luke Jensen (Kaylyn's cousin) and the Jensen/White/Spencer clan. (Luke is battling Leukemia again. See Luke's story here) We are believing God for a complete and miraculous healing of this boy, for the Glory of God's name! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned...

What is YWAM?

YWAM or Youth With a Mission is an interdenominational missions organization that seeks to know God and make him known. You can see the YWAM Website for a detailed history. This year is YWAM's 50th year of ministry! In 1960, Loren Cunningham had a dream. This dream was of waves of young people coming ashore to distant nations to spread the Gospel. (Mark 16:15)

Currently there are over 1,000 YWAM locations in over 150 countries. There is a volunteer staff of nearly 16,000 people from all walks of life.

YWAM functions under 3 main Pillars of Ministry:

Training: Teaching and training young people to fulfill the great commission. The foundation of YWAM is the Discipleship Training School (DTS, look for the next blog to highlight this). DTS equips students to...

Evangelism: "Go and make disciples of all nations..."(Mt 28:19)
YWAM believes that the bible calls us to go into the world and tell people about him.

Mercy Ministries: The "hands and feet of Jesus". To show the world the love of Jesus we are called to meet the needs of the needy.

YWAM is a very diverse, multifaceted ministry that believes in the power of the Holy Spirit to direct God's people in His will. The unique organizational structure allows and encourages new vision and exploration of ways to fulfill the great commission.

A New Direction

The Mannings have chosen a new direction for their lives! (Perhaps the direction isn't so new, but the "living it out" portion of it is)

We will be leaving for Pescara, Italy at the end of March of this year. Kaylyn will be attending a Discipleship Training School through Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and Brady will be helping lead this school as staff. We are looking forward to this new Journey and especially to the wonders God will show us along our way. We invite you to join with us on this adventure! Please sign up for our mailing list so we can keep you aprised of what's going on!

Stay tuned to our Blog. Over the next few weeks we will be explaining what YWAM is, what a Discipleship Training School is and why these are important to us!

Thanks for your support!